PROVIDENCE - Trailing by as many as 18 points, the Providence College Friars once again rode three-point shooting to resurrect their cause, only to be outscored 7-0 dwn the stretch and lose a pulsating, 82-77 decision to Boston College at The Dunk Saturday night.

"It was our competitive nature, to see the time ticking down like that," said Friar guard Marshon Brooks of the amazing comeback, which resulted in Sharaud Curry giving PC its first lead since the first two minutes of the game with a three-pointer at 73-72.

Then center Bilal Dixon scored down low, off of a Curry feed, to give PC a 77-75 lead with 1:44 to go. But, BC (4-2) regained the lead on a three-point play by center Josh Southern (11 points, four rebounds) with five seconds left on the shot clock and 42.9 ticks left on the clock.

A steal by BC's Biko Paris set up his pair of free throws with 24.2 seconds left and an 80-77 Eagle lead. Then after two Friar timeouts, Curry's potential game-tying three-pointer missed, BC's Joe Trapani (19 points, eight rebounds) clutched the ball and sank two free throws with 1.3 seconds left.

"We came back, we battled," said PC coach Keno Davis. "BC played very well and very physical. They've got good players and they go to their strength." Which is inside the lane, where BC produced 64 of its points, fetched 46 rebounds, including 17 on the offensive glass..

"The intensity wasn't there from the beginning," related Brooks of the Friars not attacking the backboard, while neither their zone or man-to-man defenses (BC shot 51 percent for the game) were terribly effective.

The Friars overcame an early 11-point deficit in the second half behind a flurry of three-point field goals - three straight by Brooks, Curry and Council - cutting the gap to one (64-63).

"They shoot the three, but the shots that they made were deep shots," said BC coach Al Skinner. "Credit to them, they made some, but the percentages (PC was 10-for-24) were in our favor."

Curry finished with 20 points for PC (4-2), while Brooks had 16 points and four rebounds. Jamine "Greedy" Peterson had 15 points and 11 rebounds, freshman guard Vincent Council hit a trio of three's and had 12 points, while Dixon had 10 points and nine rebounds.

All of the Friars' worst ills lack of an inside presence on offense, lack of rebounding at both ends of the floor, flummoxed decision-making in shooting all were exposed by BC during the first half, which found the Eagles on top 42-31 at the break.

"They were playing man-to-man (defense) and that put us inside," said Skinner of BC taking what the defense gave it, also the Eagles' strength. "In the second half, they played little man and went to the zone and forced us to work around the perimeter."

BC outscored the Friars 38-10 in the paint, owned a 28-16 rebounding edge (with 10 on the offensive glass resulting in 11 points), while PC, repeatedly, took the first shot - not the better shot - that presented itself, the result being 11-for-36 shooting from the floor.

BC had a 14-4 rebounding edge, while the Friar shot 4-for-12 from the field in taking an 18-13 lead at the eight-minute mark. The Eagles then went on a 17-3 surge over the next five minutes - all the points in the paint for a 35-18 margin.

Seven players had points for BC, with Raji (14 points, nine rebounds) and Trapani (10 points) being the big producers. And mind you, the Eagles were 0-for-7 from beyond the arc shooting-wise. Reggie Jackson, BC's sophomore guard, had 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. "We played with more composure," said Skinner of the frantic finish. "Our defensive intensity was much better, we maintained our concentration at the end."